Wednesday, April 29, 2015

I've heard there are two upcoming open days at Luton Petanque Club where you can play for free. Boules will be provided. The open events are on:
- Saturday 2 May between 2 and 5pm
- Saturday 20 June

Petanque (or Boules as it's also known) is a great game. I've played a few ends with Alan and some of the other club members. Very good fun indeed.

Luton Petanque Club also play informal games every Tuesday afternoon at 1pm, Thursday at 7.30pm and Sundays at 11am. The club is based at Play Football on St Thomas Road, Stopsley, Luton. Check out the Luton Petanque Club website and Twitter for news and events.

Coeliac Disease (Celiac in the US and Canada) is a lifelong autoimmune disease caused by intolerance to gluten and the only treatment is to adhere to a strict lifelong gluten free diet.

In the UK it's estimated that 1 in 100 people have the condition, in the USA the figure is 1 in 133.

It's important to know and remember that Celiac/Coeliac is NOT an allergy, it's NOT a preference, it's NOT a fad, it's NOT a diet, it's NOT an intolerance, it's NOT a choice - it's an AUTOIMMUNE DISEASE.

On our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour Emily and I have visited almost 600 miniature golf courses, some of which are located at 'regular' golf courses. Quite a few golf clubs and centres are building new Adventure Golf style layouts to encourage people to take up the BIG game.

We've visited and played minigolf in each of the home nations, and so far 21 of the courses we've visited have been overseas - including locations in Finland, the USA, Austria, Australia, New Zealand, Sweden and Hong Kong.

In total, our travels have taken us to 458 different places in the UK, and that's not including the many many many little places we've stopped at briefly. And of the 193 seasides we've been to so far we've played, or visited, minigolf courses at 120 of them.

A postcard from the seaside resort of Herne Bay in Kent was an exciting and interesting find as it showed the town was once home to an 'Eternit' style of Miniature Golf course. A lovely piece of minigolf history.

The Eternit Miniature Golf course in the central foreground of the postcard (Herne Bay PT4524). The course was located on the town's Central Parade. The card is postally unused and undated. As the pier suffered fire damage in 1970 the card is from the 1960's. It was produced by Colourmaster International Photo Precision Limited, St Ives, Huntingdon

It's often thought that these 'European standard' Miniature Golf courses, often known as 'Eternit', don't exist in this country. While many have become derelict over time there are examples still standing, though they have often been amended, with a variety of new obstacles added to the 'lanes'. I've got a few other examples in my postcard collection.

Many of the hot dog toppings were also gluten free and were clearly marked as such. The American Mustard Mayo, Cheese Sauce, Currywurst, Smoked BBQ and Spicy Chilli Mayo toppings and sauces are gluten free

I cooked up some of the Asda Frankfurters for dinner - here's the hot dog with bacon, mustard and onions on a warmed DS Ciabatta roll (they're the nicest rolls I've found to date). It went very well with a Vagabond gluten free beer

On Saturday 18 April 2015 I made the short journey up the line from Leagrave to Bedford for a day out in the Spring sunshine. One of my things to do in the town was a visit to the Putting Green at Russell Park on The Embankment.

The Kiosk at the Park on The Embankment in Bedford offers food & drink, putting, tennis and ping pong

In my match-up against Biggleswade's number one miniature golfer Cat 'Fore' Patterson I won with a score of 50 to her 79 on the very tricky layout.

Hole 7

In only her second-ever game of minigolf (with her debut at the Pirates Cove Adventure Golf course in Great Yarmouth last year) Cat had some amazing consistency in her play. The rookie player managed to tie with me on the 8th hole when we both scored threes, and beat me with a three to my four on the last hole.

Hole one from the green

Looking back at my previous visits I have scored holes-in-one on the 14th, the 15th and on this occasion I hit an ace on the 5th hole. Always a very nice feeling on a grass Putting course.

Saturday, April 25, 2015

Finding an old Official Holiday Guide, including Mini Golf Putting, for the town of Stonehaven, Kincardineshire.
While on a day out in Bedford I noticed an Antiques and Collectors fair going on at St Paul's Church so popped in to see if I could find any minigolf postcards or ephemera.

I was in luck as I found an interesting old Official Guide for visitors to the seaside town of Stonehaven.

The Stonehaven Official Guide, designed and produced under the authority of the Town Council by Mearns Publications. Printed by Langstane Press, Aberdeen

Flicking through the guide I spotted a half page photo of the Putting and Bowling Greens on page 19.

Some of the entertainment and leisure facilities on offer to visitors to the town

On page 22 it states there were two putting courses in the town, and on page 35 the cost per round is given as 6d.

Stonehaven is on the north east coast of Scotland and lies 15 miles south of Aberdeen. Stonehaven is now a part of Aberdeenshire as Kincardinshire lost its administrative status in 1975. I couldn't find any other dates of publication of the old guide, but it is pre-decimal (before 1971). Very interesting to see the old phone numbers listed too - only four-digits long!

At a guess I would say the guide was produced in 1966. A recent event shown is the reopening of the old tolbooth by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother in 1963. There is also an advert on the inside back cover for Milne's Soft Drinks and Cordials - they are endorsed by Andy Ross, the 1965 winner of the Suffolk Point to Point.

Along with former minigolf Pro Brad 'The Fist' Shepherd we went along to put the course through its paces ahead of its full launch to the public on Wednesday 29 April.

Hole 7 - the half-pipe-tunnel - looks like an easy ace...it's not

The Crazy Golf course layout is within Efes Snooker Club on Stoke Newington Road and is set-up on either side of the snooker hall with 9 very tricky holes to master.

The second half of hole 5 involves a Pool table!

Plonk Golf has been created from reclaimed materials that have been repurposed to create a very unique miniature golf course. There's a working volcano on the first hole, a birdcage on the hill at the third, a loop-di-loop to tackle on the fourth, and a pool table making up half of the hole on the fifth hole. There are also more pipes and tunnels than you can shake a stick (or golf club) at!

The working and smoking volcano on hole 1 at Plonk Golf!

The Plonk Golf course is the brainchild of the team at The House of Revelry and will be open on Wednesdays (6pm to 12.30am) and Thursdays (12pm to 1am) from the 29 April. A round on the course will cost £7.50 per player.